1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a bootable compact disk read-only-memory (CD-ROM) disk with recorded operating system programs and application programs, and a system for manufacturing bootable CD-ROM disks, in which the CD-ROM disks are recorded with not only an operating system program for booting a computer system but also general application programs and data files for specific applications.
2. Related Art
All computer systems including personal computers (PCs) execute operating system programs such as MS-DOS (disk operating system) and WINDOWS to instruct the computer systems on how to use other application specific programs such as word processing and spreadsheet programs. An operating system program such as MS-DOS must be loaded to the computer's working memory which is ordinarily a random-access-memory (RAM) by a process known as "booting."
Booting occurs automatically when the computer is first turned on, a process called a "cold boot," or by the user while the computer is running, a process called "warm boot." Booting performs two functions controlled by firmware stored in one or more basic input-output system, or BIOS, chips inside the computer. The first function of "booting" is to run a power-on self-test, or POST. The second function of "booting" is to search the storage media for the operating system it will load to the computer's working memory. The usual types of storage media for "booting" purposes are external floppy disk and internal hard disk which are magnetic media and other internal memory devices as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,816 for Personal Computer Capable Of Changing Boot Priority issued to Oka, U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,497 for Disk Operating System Loadable From Read Only Memory Using Installable File System Interface issued to Feigenbaum et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,532 for Automatic Development Of Operating System Boot Image issued to Crosswy et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,775 for Personal Computer Using Flash Memory As BIOS-ROM issued to Sakai et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,843 for Flash Memory System Providing Both BIOS And User Storage Capability issued to Moran et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,076 for Computer System Having BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)-ROM (Read Only Memory) Writing Function issued to Dewa et al. Nowadays, as a CD-ROM disk drive is generally used for most computer systems, a CD-ROM disk which has attributes of both hard disks and floppy diskettes for storing the operating system has developed for "booting" purposes. The CD-ROM disk of this type is called as a "bootable CD-ROM disk" as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,918 for Scanning Initial CD-ROM Sectors For A Boot Record And Executing Said Boot Record To Load And Execute Floppy Disk Image Corresponding To The Existing Floppy Drive issued to Vander Kamp et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,868 for Data Processor Having BIOS Decrytion Of Emulated Media Images issued to Williams. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,868 relates to a structure which makes CD-ROM bootable. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,918 illustrates the making of a new boot image in a system received area. The bootable CD-ROM disk is used to boot the computer when the computer has only a CD-ROM drive without a floppy disk drive, or when the hard disk malfunctions and cannot be used to boot the computer.
A bootable CD-ROM disk is generally used to recover data stored on a damaged hard disk in a computer system. That is, after the computer system is booted with the bootable CD-ROM disk, the user is permitted to format the damaged hard disk and copy data files, such as application programs and various data files, from a separate data CD-ROM to the formatted hard disk. Both the bootable CD-ROM disk and the separate data CD-ROM disk, which is generally called a back-up CD-ROM, are provided to the user to recover the damaged hard disk. Therefore, suppliers must manufacture two separate CD-ROM disks for data recovery purposes, a task that can be burdensome. Moreover, almost all of the free-space of the bootable CD-ROM disk is not utilized. If the bootable CD-ROM disk is not provided to the user, the user has to boot the computer system with a floppy disk having the boot program recorded thereon. After booting, the user can repair the damaged hard disk with a repair program and copy data and files, such as application programs and operating system files, from a separate CD-ROM to the repaired hard disk. In this case, the CD-ROM driving program must be provided in the floppy disk to run the CD-ROM disk drive installed in the computer. Since the CD-ROM driving programs differ from each other according to the existing CD-ROM disk drive, the user must use a suitable CD-ROM driving program for the CD-ROM disk drive. Therefore, a floppy disk or CD-ROM disk having operating system programs recorded thereon for booting the computer as well as a floppy disk having CD-ROM driving programs recorded thereon must be provided to operate the computer system and its CD-ROM disk drive.
The computer system can easily record the application programs and operating system programs on the floppy disk but uses only the operating system program when booting. However, since the CD-ROM disk is recorded only by a specific CD-ROM disk recorder, I have noted that it is difficult to record both the application programs and operating system programs on a CD-ROM disk. I have also found that it is difficult to assign the program area for the application programs and operating system program area on the CD-ROM disk properly. Therefore, CD-ROM disks having both application programs and operating system programs recorded thereon are not currently available.